Is Infomercial King a Helper or Huckster?

But in the book or on the Web site, many doctors have expressed serious concerns about Trudeau's cures, saying his advice is not only misleading, it could actually hurt people.

"Stop taking nonprescription and prescription drugs," the book instructs. "Remember, drugs are poisons. This includes vaccines."

Trudeau says drugs are only OK in exceptional circumstances -- such as trauma or in surgery. His book makes other outrageous claims.

Trudeau writes in his book -- which has sold more than 5 million copies and will be listed as No. 1 on this Sunday's New York Times best-seller list for hardcover "advice" books -- that "the sun does not cause cancer. Sun block has been shown to cause cancer. The ingredients in sun block are now strongly believed to be the number one cause of skin cancer." He says "antiperspirants and deodorants contain deadly poisons," and that AIDS is "one of the greatest hoaxes and deceptions ever perpetrated on the American public."

The government and the pharmaceutical companies conspire to keep natural cures from you, he insists, to make money by selling medicine.

"It's so profitable to the companies that sell it," he says. "Chemotherapy kills more people than cancer itself."

Trudeau has no medical training and no particular health expertise. What he does have is a following, and that's what concerns so many in the established medical community.

"I tell people, 'Don't listen to me,'" Trudeau responds when asked why anyone should listen to him instead of their doctor. "I say, 'I'm reporting, and I'm giving you facts, make an informed decision.'"

Trudeau asks why anyone should listen to the Food and Drug Administration. "This is the same organization that said Vioxx is safe and effective," he said."Then they said, 'Oops, we were wrong.' Why should we listen to them?"

But some of Trudeau's claims do not stand scrutiny.

Asked for his "natural cure" for diabetes, Trudeau continually cites a study from the University of Calgary, which he says "has 25 years of research" of a natural way to make it so "diabetes can be, if not completely cured and wiped out in America, dramatically reduced by this herbal combination."

But when asked, the University of Calgary told ABC News that "there is no scientific evidence that any herbal remedy can cure any form of diabetes. In our review of the claims made by Trudeau's book, we have established that there have been no human studies conducted at the University of Calgary in the past 20 years on herbal remedies for diabetes."

Trudeau responded that he was "shocked and amazed" and that he would send us documentation he was referring to. We never did receive that documentation.

The book also claims: "All of the author's royalties on the sale of this book are being used to help fund the mission of educating people about natural health care and exposing corporate and government corruption."

But that "mission of educating people" includes paying for Trudeau's flights and luxury hotel stays as he jets around the country for interviews, he acknowledges.

He says it's "just like when you give money to the American Cancer Society, and the president flies on a corporate private Gulfstream [jet], stays in the Four Seasons hotel, your donation paid for that because he's -- in his opinion -- helping to spread the news about cancer."

A Future in Politics?

But his latest, quite successful incarnation as an author isn't the final stage of Trudeau's career, he says.